Specifically, there is talk of the intention to exchange shares, so that in the end MidEuropa Partners and Medicover would be owners of the newly created player.
MidEuropa owns the Regina Maria private healthcare network in Romania. Medicover owns the clinics and hospital of the same name in this country, as well as the Synevo laboratory network, the leader of its respective market.
Representatives of MidEuropa Partners and Medicover had not responded to ZF’s request for information on the talks about the operations in Romania by press time.
Market players say the plan is for the newly created company to be sold on in the future given that the policy of private equity firms, such as MidEuropa, is to buy businesses and then sell them at a profit.
The idea of the two giants joining forces on the Romanian market would benefit each party, ZF sources say. MidEuropa Partners would strengthen its presence in the laboratory segment (Medicover owns the leading actor, Synevo) and could eventually get a better price from a possible future sale of the newly created entity.
Medicover, on the other hand, is lagging behind in the Romanian development race, where Regina Maria and MedLife have been competing in acquisitions aimed at securing a position at the top of the market.
However, the two groups – MidEuropa and Medicover – are still in talks, with a number of “challenges” along the way. On the one hand, each of the two players has its own hospital project in Bucharest and each is committed to it.
On the other hand, such a deal is subject to approval from the Competition Council. Together, the two groups have RON2.3 billion revenue in a private healthcare market of RON11 billion.
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)